Chinese singer Liu Huan dies at 63, remembered for Olympic anthem and teaching

Chinese singer and songwriter Liu Huan has died in Shanghai at the age of 63, prompting widespread mourning across mainland China. Liu died on September 25 after an illness, according to an obituary issued by the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, where he taught the History of Western Music for three decades. The university did not disclose further details about his illness.

He was best known internationally for performing “You and Me”, the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with British soprano Sarah Brightman. Brightman paid tribute to Liu on social media, calling him an amazing talent and a true gentleman. Liu was widely recognised as a pioneer of Chinese popular music and a leading male vocalist.

His career included theme songs for television dramas from the 1980s to the 2010s, as well as compositions for series including “A Native of Beijing in New York” and “Empresses in the Palace”. He developed an interest in classical music while studying French literature, later combining that interest with popular music and songwriting. He first appeared on China Central Television in 1986 and recorded his first television-drama theme song the following year.

Before establishing his career, he spent a year volunteering as a music teacher in the countryside. Liu also remained committed to education. Students remembered him as an approachable professor despite his fame, while his university work made Western music accessible to young people.

In 2019, he helped establish a programme offering one million yuan annually to an original singer-songwriter. His wife, Lu Lu, described him in a private social-media message as her “forever love and forever pain”. Liu’s last performance was at a New Year’s Eve gala this year.